Call Number

Three types of call numbers are used at UofL to organize books and other materials by subject or shelf location: Library of Congress (LC) call numbers, local call number systems, and Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) numbers. The Call Number search option retrieves catalog records by any of these call number types.

Enter the number in order (may contain alphabetical characters) starting with the first character, and include all punctuation and spaces. Results are displayed in a brief Title List and can be browsed, forward and backward.

Complete or partial call numbers may be entered:

• PS 1305 .A1 1993: this is a complete Library of Congress call number for The adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
• VC 1244 1998: this is a local UofL call number for materials in a particular collection, in this case, non-print media at the Health Science Library.

Search limits cannot be used for Call Number searches. Boolean operators (and, or, not) do not function in Call Number searches.

Search Strategies:

• Case does not matter.  Searching for pq will get you the same results as searching for PQ.
• Punctuation and spacing do matter. In general, punctuation and spacing of call numbers should be entered as they appear in catalog records.
  • In searches for call numbers containing a decimal extension, the . (period) must be included (e.g., TK5103.59)
  • In searches for call numbers containing a "double cutter" (that is, more than one letter/number combination appears after the class number), a space must be included before the second letter, (e.g., PS508.W73 W67).
  • In searches for call numbers which contain a date, a space should be included before the date. (e.g., SF426.C65 1991). 
• Complete or partial call numbers may be entered.  If a search for a known number does not produce satisfactory results, try entering only the first part of the call number. Always include at least one numeric character in the search term. Searches on partial call numbers that lack numeric characters may not bring you to a point in the browse list that is close to the subject of interest.  Instead of searching under "P" or "PQ" try "PQ139." Searches are automatically truncated; do not use the question mark (?) for truncation.

Call Number Search Examples: